TV report: Ministers were warned to expect ‘chain of responses’ to IAF strike on Yemen, but told restraint was no longer an option

When they met this afternoon to approve Israel’s strike on the Houthis in Yemen, ministers were told by security chiefs of the potential consequences, but advised that restraint was not appropriate.

“Israel recognizes and is prepared for the fact that in the wake of the attack, an active front is being opened against the Houthis that will lead to a chain of responses,” the report says ministers were told. “But in the choice between ‘trading blows’ or restraint in the fact of the Shiite axis, it is preferable to respond in order to not lose deterrence.”

Channel 12 says a senior Israeli response told its reporter that the deadly early Friday Houthi attack on Tel Aviv “crossed all red lines” and “the days of restraint are over.

The Tel Aviv strike culminated nine months of Houthi attacks, in which some 200 projectiles have been fired at Israel, the report says.

The source, the report says, said the international community needs to “turn up the pressure on the Houthis and their dispatchers in Iran.”